Jeff Merkley

I think it is something that may help explain some of the cultural issues that seem to be coming up time and time again.

But, more fundamentally, is there a revolving door policy that bans people who have worked as regulators from then going back to work on Wall Street?

Is it your recommendation today that the Fed aggressively require divestment of commodities by banks that are also trading in the price of those commodities?

Well, this is happening regularly. We have banks that control pipelines.

Does this disturb you? Do you think there needs to be some change in these practices?

Does this not indicate you are just asleep at the switch?

I just think it--is it not ironic that it took a U.S. Senate investigation by Carl Levin to provide the facts that led to this particular case getting handled?

That is just a fundamental fact of that case that you are presenting as too big to jail.

We were in the middle of a tremendous economic collapse

I am not satisfied yet that homeowners have gotten a fair shake when we have been through this time and time again.

I am not quite persuaded of that, but thank you for pursuing it, because a lot of people would be more fairly treated with an appropriate credit model.

Are you willing to aggressively pursue a model which would be fundamentally fair to homeowners?

Thank you for your service as Chairman of this Banking Committee. It has been a pleasure to serve on it.

I encourage you to put pedal to the metal in that regard.

There is a demand for these loans; therefore, we should simply leave the system as it is and allow these 500-percent loans.

When I was Speaker of the House in Oregon, we passed a law that limited the payday loan interest rates down to about 36 percent, which sounds like a lot, but they were charging well in excess of 500 percent.

We are making it far more expensive to get that education.

Refinancing student debt should be a no-brainer.

So one idea we have been pursuing--and Senator Warren has been in the forefront of this--is enabling folks to refinance their higher-interest loans to a lower interest.

We know that this country can afford to do for this generation and subsequent generations what it did to create the greatest middle class the world has ever known: Make college a public good again.

We can do better than this, and you have given us some great ideas to work with.

Let me also ask that the record remain open for 1 week for additional statements and questions from Members.

If you go through the doors of that schoolhouse and you work hard, you can do just about anything here in America.

The best-off are the job creators, so if we concentrate wealth with the job creators, we will have more jobs.

I think that tells you that there is something wrong with the banking system as it is operating today.